UPFRONT

Who says computer mags have to be dry?
We've wetted this issue by hiding a bottle of beer somewhere within
its pages. So put on your 3-D glasses (or don't—it will probably
make it harder) and look for the bottle. If you find it, send the
page number to
beer@ssc.com by May 31st.
The first 100 people to send correct answers will receive a
“Powered by Linux” license plate frame and one of each of our
popular Linux bumper stickers.

The Largest Open-Source Event in Latin America
to Happen May 2-4. 2002

Richard Stallman is one of over 200 speakers set to talk at
the largest open-source event in Latin America. Every year,
thousands of members of the Open Source community meet at the
Fórum Internacional do Software Livre, scheduled this year
from May 2-4, 2002 in Brazil.

Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state in Brazil and host
of the event, is a leader in the adoption of open source by the
government and commercial users. The state has specific legislation
regulating the use of software by government agencies, giving
preference to open-source software.

Ypsilanti, Michigan, February 4, 2002—Linux, the open-source
operating system, is at the heart of a popular new recipe service,
recipesbyemail.com.
Developed by Tap Internet, this service allows anyone with an
e-mail client to search hundreds of recipes quickly and
easily.

“It was something originally done as a proof-of-concept for
a client—a database searchable through e-mail”, said Michael
Kimsal, director of Tap Internet.

But soon after we'd finished the core technology,
we decided to put up a “sample” to show other clients.
Recipesbyemail.com has quickly become a staple for many users on
the Internet to find just the recipes they're looking for.

A sizable percentage of the loyal users have turned out to be
blind, due primarily to the fact that many web sites are so wrapped
up in JavaScript rollovers and fancy flash animation that users
relying on text-to-speech systems cannot use them at all. “It was
quite interesting to get e-mails from some of these users because
it was something I'd never even considered before”, said Kimsal.

“We intentionally keep the e-mails text-only to ensure
maximum compatibility whether you're using Outlook or a Palm Pilot
or a cell phone”, said Kimsal. “By building on Linux, we were
able to do this on a shoestring and still provide value to the
users, many of whom don't have very fast connections or modern
browsers.” The system is built on Slackware Linux, using a
combination of Perl, MySQL, procmail and PHP.

“We will be introducing a new feature soon to allow users to
send in their own recipes, which we hope will help increase
interest in the system even more.”

—Recipesbyemail.com

LJ Index—May 2002

Pentagon transactions, in trillions of dollars, for
which there is no accounting: 2.3

Approximate amount, in millions of dollars, wasted
by the Pentagon in the last two minutes: 2

Number of moons in the solar system with diameters
larger than the planet Pluto: 8

Number of kilometers by which the diameter of
Earth's moon exceeds that of Pluto: 1,176

Hours between the crawling of a barely exposed web
page by an e-mail-harvesting robot and the arrival of its first
spam: 8

Estimated ten-thousandths of a second that Earth's
rotation will be slowed by global warming by 2100: 1

Percent by which the world's over-65 population
will grow by 2025: 100

Percent by which the world's number of children
will grow by 2025: 3

Number of wireless public “hot spots” scheduled
for deployment in Korea before the Soccer World Cup this summer:
25,000

Percentage of users who arrive at web sites by
direct navigation or bookmarks (rather than search engines), as of
February 6, 2002: 52

Same as above, one year earlier: 46

Millions of dollars in reported Yahoo profits in
2000: 71

Billions of dollars in losses Yahoo would have had
in 2000 if option expenses had been factored in: 1.3

Percentage of engineers whose career interests
solidified before or during 10th grade: 59

Percentage of engineers who “decided to pursue
their careers because of an affinity for math and science and their
desire to innovate and explore new approaches to everyday
actions”: 79

Billions of dollars in pocket change circulating in
the United States: 7.7

Number of operating systems bundled with a $399 US
PC at Walmart.com: 0